El Paisano

This is an amazing hole in the wall Mexican restaurant. From the outside this place doesn’t look like much and frankly the inside isn’t much better; but when there’s a line to the door and most of the customers Mexicans, I figured I was in the right place for authentic Mexican food. I was correct.

I ordered the 3 taco plate and added a tamale on the side. They were out of Carne Asada so I tried chorizo on my tacos. The menu is full of traditional Mexican items including things you don’t usually see like 5 kinds of soup including pozole and goat soup, soles, pupusas, and gorditas. The meat selections were equally varied and exotic, including items like ceviche, pork stomach, beef head, tripe and beef tongue along with traditional choices.

The food took a bit longer than expected (5-10 minutes), but that’s because I could see everything being cooked fresh to order behind the counter. No complaints about that! You could taste the freshness in the food. My chorizo tacos were topped with fresh onion and cilantro and were bursting with fresh flavor. They also offer a toppings bar with salsas, pickled vegetables, onions, and slaw along with oregano, Chile flake and chile in oil sauce. I tried the red salsa and chili oil sauce on my tacos and they were fantastic. My taco plate came with rice & beans. The rice was unremarkable but the beans were fresh made (not canned) and flavorful. I topped off my meal with a tamale. Had I known how much food my taco plate had and how ENORMOUS the tamale was I probably would have skipped it. That said the tamale was full of authentic freshly prepared Mexican pork. Also delicious.

I strongly recommend stopping by if you are near the Reno airport and enjoy fresh authentic Mexican food.

3 stars on tacos but 5 star papusuas! The slaw and salsa bar complete the awesome papusuas. Quickly becoming one of my favorite places in the Reno/Sparks area!

Very authentic and everything tasted fresh.
The tamales were especially authentic and good. Tacos were fresh and the variety of meats were moist and seasoned well.

Service was pleasant.

Good food and the service has been great anytime my family and I go there to eat. It's a great mix of Salvadoran and Mexican food with the menu geared more towards the Mexican variety with a lot more options but none the less the food is delicious. Happy eats!